Rather than being a product of environmental prescriptions, a “stop-signal,” which inhibits actions, is mainly a result of the internally generated decision regarding whether or not to perform an action (i.e., intentional inhibition) at the last moment of the decision-making process. Because a “stop-signal” can not be evaluated by behavioral indicators (such as error rate or response time), the appropriate method of evaluation is to combine the “free choice” paradigm with techniques such as fMRI and EEG, for the examination of the biophysical characteristics of the relevant cranial nerves and automatic nerve system. Additionally, the processing of intentional inhibition is influenced by the addition of the subliminal priming and emotional information to the paradigm. The following are three promising directions for future research: (1) What is the role of dFMC in this psychological mechanism? (2) To what extent do individual difference in personality traits affect intentional inhibition? (3) How are internally generated “stop-signals” uesd in daily life?

In recent years, a series of brand crisis events regard to corporate social responsibility (CSR), appeared continuously in our country, which caused rising numbers of consumers strong doubt and criticism on the motivation of CSR engagements. The consumer perception of corporate hypocrisy has become a social phenomenon that cannot be ignored in the practice of corporate social responsibility. These types of phenomena reflect the mismanagement of relationships between the enterprises and their stakeholders. Many current publications of corporate social responsibility start their studies only from one dimension angle, words and deeds. Actually, due to different perspectives of multiple stakeholders, CSR can be dividend into technical CSR and institutional CSR, which have different intermediate mechanisms and can be categorized into legitimacy identification and perceptive moral capital. Based on the analysis of perception changing process of stakeholders, the formation mechanism of perceptions of corporate hypocrisy can be explained.

The previous neuroimaging studies mainly used the serial visual presentation paradigm to investigate the neural mechanism of reading with words, sentences and paragraphs. Recently, some studies have begun to use the naturalistic reading paradigm in fMRI experiments, which are introduced and discussed. It has been revealed that the co-registration of eye movement and fMRI is a good way to record the data in the naturalistic reading task. In addition, a method using self-paced eye movements as markers for hemodynamic brain responses during naturalistic reading is also introduced. As a trend for future neuroimaging studies of reading, the utilization of new paradigms and new methods provide a high ecological validity to explore the neural mechanism of eye movements in reading. The further research needs to take advantage of experimental designs and other relevant methods to overcome the limitation of fMRI in low resolution of time. Moreover, the relationship between neural systems for reading and eye movements requires further investigation.

Socially Desirable Responding (SDR) is one of the most common sources of bias that affect the validity of personality tests. Considerable attempts have been made to investigate the concept and explore its underlying structure, resulting in a number of SDR measurement scales. The aim of the article is to review the literature on the development of SDR measures and identify unsolved issues. From both preventive and retrospective perspectives, the authors compared current approaches to coping with SDR and revealed the influence of retrospective control on the validity of SDR scales. Lastly, additional guidance is provided on potential methods of SDR reduction.

Fixed-links modeling (FLM) is theory-guided statistical modeling for the purpose of analyzing experimental data in the framework of structural equation modeling (SEM). The main characteristic of a fixed-links model is that the loadings of the manifest variables on the latent ones are pre-fixed according to theory-based expectations. The fixation of loadings enables the decomposition of variances and covariances originating from experimental data into several parts each representing a unique source of variances. The loadings are frequently constrained according to functions that reflect the relationship between treatment levels and underlying cognitive processes. FLM has been widely used in representing processes underlying working memory, attention, and learning. It also plays an important part in investigating the relationships among these abilities and their sources.

Bayesian statistical methods is one of the two statistic schools. Recently, Bayesian statistical methods are becoming ever more popular in social and behavioral research. However, domestic psychological and behavioral scholars are not familiar with it. We provide an untechnical introduction about Bayesian statistics, particularly in Bayesian method used in latent variable modeling. Specifically, first we compared the difference between Bayesian methods and Frequentist methods in several basic concepts. Thereafter, the Bayes’ Theorem and its analysis procedure were introduced. Finally, to illustrate Bayesian methods in latent variable modeling (i.e., confirmatory factor analysis), a concrete sample was presented. In the end of the paper, we briefly discussed the future direction of Bayesian methods in psychology research.

Piecewise growth mixture models (PGMM) can be used to analyze multi-phase longitudinal data with unobserved heterogeneity in a population, and are widely applied in fields such as ability growth, social behaviors development and intervention, and clinical psychology. PGMM can be defined within both the structural equation modeling framework and the random coefficient modeling framework. Maximum likelihood via an expectation–maximization algorithm (EM-ML) and Markov Chain Monte Carlo for Bayesian inference (MCMC-BI) are the most commonly used methods for PGMM parameter estimation. The validity of PGMM and their parameter estimation are significantly affected by factors such as sample size, number of time points, and latent class separation. Future studies should focus on comparisons between PGMM and other growth models, and the influences of factors such as data characters and latent class attributes on the performance of parameter estimation methods under the same modeling framework or different modeling frameworks.

A pointing gesture is the simultaneous extension of the arm and index finger to something in space, such as an object, a person, a location, or an event. Pointing emerges around 12 months of age, and is positively associated with infants’ language learning; however, it is not clear why such a correlation exists. In this paper, we consider two processes that could influence the relationship between pointing and language development: (1) pointing may influence learning by eliciting contingent linguistic input from the social environment; (2) pointing may create an effective learning state in infants. Future studies are needed to examine how the dynamic interaction of these two processes facilitate language learning, and to explore the use of pointing as a diagnostic or intervention tool for children who are at risk for language delays.

Childhood amnesia refers to the inability of adults to recall events that happened in their early life. Most researchers have argued that the offset of childhood amnesia and the onset of autobiographical memory occur between the ages of 3 and 4 years, but the earliest memories of children occurred at a younger age than did adults. Four approaches have been used to elicit adults’ accounts of their early memories, including the single earliest memory method, the cue-word method, the exhaustive method, and the lifespan method. Evaluations of the earliest memories are discussed, including using surveys to measure the phenomenon of earliest memory and encoding the earliest memory accounts of individuals. Future studies should 1) utilize longitudinal designs to track developmental changes in autobiographical memories, 2) expand the research to abnormal populations, 3) improve measurements and 4) explore the mechanisms in the maintenance and loss of autobiographical memory.

Educational ergonomics, which had long been neglected by ergonomic researchers, is now a burgeoning subfield of ergonomics. The development of educational ergonomics is generally marked with the proposal of new theoretical models. Recently, two theoretical models were proposed by Smith (2007) and Benedyk (2009), respectively, since Kao published the first model of educational ergonomics 40 years ago. These models have proven to be useful in providing theoretical frame for educational design. The value of these models however has not been widely realized by educators, which leads to the gap between theoretical models of educational ergonomics and learning theories. The gap undermines the implementation of these models in educational design. In order to provide a more valuable and practicable theoretical model for the design of educational system, a theoretical cohesion between the ergonomic theories and learning theories is necessary. In current study, an effort was made to establish the link between the ergonomics and learning theories. From a learning theory perspective, we further propose three feasible suggestions for the modification of the educational ergonomics models.

Retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) refers to the phenomenon that the retrieval of particular memories causes other related information to be forgotten. Since its discovery 20 years ago, RIF has been an important topic in memory research but its underlying cognitive mechanism remains controversial. There exist three major explanations including the interference account, the inhibition account, and the context- dependent account. Based on a systematic review of empirical studies on the cognitive mechanisms of RIF, it could be concluded that all three accounts have received partial support, and therefore RIF might be caused jointly by inhibition, interference, and change of context. Future research on RIF should combine multiple methodologies to address this new theory directly.

The studies indicate both rats and humans had better memory recall under emotionally arousing experiences situation. This paper presents the neurobiological mechanisms for the influence of emotional arousal on memory consolidation, including: (a) Emotional arousal or stress released the adrenal stress hormones leading to enhance the consolidation of lasting memories. (b1) The activation of amygdala mediated the consolidation of emotional arousal. The release of Norepinephrine (NE) within amygdala affected the consolidation of memory. (b2) Amygdala regulation of memory projected to brain systems, such as hippocampus or cortex, which engaged in different kinds of memory experiences. (c) The activation of NE in the amygdala played an important role in the process of stress-induced memory consolidation. In summary, the effect of emotional arousal on memory consolidation involved hormonal regulation, neural modulation and their interaction.

The dangers of methamphetamine use become increasingly prominent, and has received widely public attention. Numerous evidence from behavioral and neuroimaging studies has consistently shown that chronic methamphetamine consumption can cause a deficit of inhibitory function, particularly in the context of drug-related cues, deriving from dysfunction of the brain regions associated with inhibition, including prefrontal cortex etc. These pathological changes adversely affect cognitive performance and daily function. At present, It has been shown that inhibitory control dysfunction induced by methamphetamine use can be recovered to some degree following abstinence. Therefore, the intervention strategies that devote to improve the inhibitory control of methamphetamine users become very important. Future research in this field should address the specificity of inhibitory control associated with substance use, and consider the patterns of multiple drug abuse and the difference of exercise intervention strategies.

Stress emerges as a frontier topic in many disciplines. The laboratory based on stress research often employs different induction paradigms with varied efficacy, leading to incomparable results across different labs. The current review summarized common paradigms in stress induction based on the sources of stressors, which results in either fast or slow stress responses, varied cortisol levels in saliva, and different patterns in brain activation. Physiological stressors lead to earlier excitation of SNS system and brain stem; psychological stressors lead to activation of HPA axis, frontal lobe and limbic system; while combined stressors lead to activation of both SNS system and HPA axis. Measurement of fast and slow stress-response system together therefore is important in a full understanding of different stress induction paradigms, and reveals the dynamic changes of the two systems in stress research.

Parental preconception exposure to addictive drugs influences not only parents themselves, but also their offsprings’ physiological function and behavior. In recent years, research shows that the epigenetic alterations play a vital role in abnormal behavior. Parental preconception exposure to addictive drugs influences the offsprings’ susceptibility to drug addiction and anxiety-like behavior, induces offsprings’ depression-like behavior and cognitive impairment. Epigenetic alterations in germ cells induced by preconception exposure to addictive drugs contribute to the onset of offsprings’ abnormal behavior through the changes of imprinted gene, BDNF, and neurotransmitter system. Future studies, besides strengthening the above three aspects research, should pay attention to other aspects of genes and to try to find the epigenetic biomarker in germ cells for the prediction of the offsprings’ abnormal behavior.

The concept of digital natives and related literature has proposed a new perspective to understand the influences of digital technology on individuals. Digital natives refers to individuals who grow up in the digital environment. Their experiences of interacting with digital technology affect not only their behavioral traits, but also their cognitive and physiological characteristics. These statements are theoretically supported by the ecological techno-subsystem theory and digital native hypotheses at macro and micro levels. Moreover, studies in cognitive psychology and cognitive neuropsychology have provided empirical evidences. Based on previous results, future researches should further expand the direction, depth and breadth of exploration in this area.

Materialism refers to a personal value stressing the importance of owning material possessions for life. Most of previous literature focused on studying its negative effects, but this view has been increasingly challenged. The current empirical studies demonstrated that materialism could promote happiness under certain conditions, and could be used as a compensation strategy for personal sense of insecurity. From the motivation perspective some researchers pointed out that conceptually instrumental materialism could be benign, and materialism could be considered as identity goal pursuit for self-identity construction and maintenance as well. Future research may provide more empirical evidence for the motivation-based concepts of materialism, and evaluate the effectiveness of materialism for insecurity compensation and happiness promotion. Another direction for future research would be investigating the positive impact of materialism on well-being from an integration perspective of cognition and motivation.